Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
“But you’re different.” He sits beside me. “Sarita is another beast entirely. She betrayed Mateo and Lito’s parents, god rest their souls, and made that choice despite knowing what it might eventually cost her. Would you make that choice?”
“To betray people who counted on me? Never.”
“Exactly.”
I stir the noodles. “It doesn’t mean her sons deserved to die.”
“This world isn’t about giving us what we deserve.” He pops a pizza roll into his mouth, chews, and winces. “These are truly terrible, aren’t they?”
It brings a slight smile to my face. “You’ve never tried them?”
“No. I want to go back to that time period.” He rises and grabs a paper towel, politely spitting into it before dropping it into the trash. “We’ll just pretend this never happened.”
“Sounds good to me.” I try the noodles. As always, they’re delicious.
“Something’s on fire.” Lito strolls in and grabs a handful of Chex mix.
“I can’t bake.” I slurp my noodles.
“That’s what Carter is for.” He grabs a beer from the fridge. “You’ve got more important things to do.”
“Like what? Sit here and worry myself to death?”
“Like get your classes straight for next semester.” He slides into the seat on my other side.
I stop slurping. “What?”
“I talked to Mateo in between his guns and ammo sessions with the soldiers and told him you should go back to school.”
My heart stutters as I swivel to Lito. “What did he say?”
“No, at first.”
“Oh.” My heart falls.
“Because he said if you wanted to go back to school you would’ve asked him.”
“When?” I groan in exasperation. “When have I had time to ask him? After he shot my groom? Before he nailed a man’s hands to my bedroom wall? When?”
Carter stands and pats his stomach. “I don’t think that pizza roll sat right with me. Excuse me.” He disappears into the hallway.
“You grossed him out.” Lito snickers. “Anyway, I told him this whole thing is new to both of you, but once you’ve settled in and—” He waves a hand “—killed Sarita and all that, you’ll want to start your life. Your real life. One where you get to chase your dreams.”
“And he was okay with that?”
“I mean, he said your dream should be to be in his bed underneath him, but I told him he’s an asshole and that you’re meant for bigger things.”
I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face. “Are you serious?”
“Yes, girl.” He samples my noodles. “Those are fire.”
“So he said yes?”
“He said all you have to do is ask. But then he added you won’t be staying on campus and if any ‘foolish schoolboy dares so much as to speak to you’ that he’d drag him to the sauna and so on and so forth.”
“Oh my god!” I squeal and wrap my arms around Lito, squeezing him as hard as I can.
“Ugh, you’re like a girdle.” He laughs. “Besides, you would’ve gotten it done without me. I just sped the process.”
“I mean, yeah, I was going to tell him I wanted to go back to school, but we haven’t really reached the part where we plan our future. We’ve been kind of busy learning each other, and now we’re just trying to stay alive.” I glance out the window as the sun fades from the horizon. My mood drops, my excitement turning bitter in my gut. “She’s coming, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. “But we’re ready. Mateo will win this. He always does.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” Worry sours my appetite as I look up at Lito. “What happens then?”
“Then we fight until it’s done.” He kisses my forehead. “We’re Milanis. We don’t go down easy.”
The kitchen door opens, and Mateo glowers at Lito. “Get your lips off my bride.”
“You can’t be jealous of a gay man.” Lito rolls his eyes.
Mateo pulls me from the stool. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
“It’s his dick, isn’t it?” Lito groans. “God, you two are so gross.”
Mateo leads me out of the kitchen and down the hall to the sitting room. I rarely come in here. It’s fancy and seems more like a place you walk past, not a place you linger in.
He strides to the ornate fireplace, then turns on his heel.
I stop. “What—”
He lowers himself to one knee and holds out a jewelry box. “I know we started out on the wrong foot.”
“That’s one way of putting it.” I arch a brow and move to stand in front of him.
His eyes glint. “But the day I married you was the best one of my life. I just didn’t realize it then. I do now. You were meant for me, Lucretia. I was made for you. I think … I think maybe I knew it all along on some level.” He smirks. “I certainly knew I wanted to wreck you in more ways than one.”